The invention is directed to gyroscopes and more particularly to a system for measuring rotation of a body with respect to a fixed inertial coordinate system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,207 issued to inventor H. De Lang et al. teaches a laser with no preferred direction of polarization for detecing the motion of an object. The Patent does not teach rotational measurement of any object relative to inertial space. The patent is silent as to initiating an asymmetric mode in the laser to perform inertial measurements.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,163 issued to inventor Robert L. Forward teaches inertial rotation by determining the change in the polarization direction of a light beam between the time of emission and detection. Although this system operates, it is not practical because the path length requirements are very long for the required high sensitivity for accurate measurements.
There is a continuing need for an accurate and relatively inexpensive system for measuring rotation of a body in space. The present invention satisfy these needed requirements.